Solemnity of the Holy Trinity; 30th May, 2021

 

May God bestow on us in today's Eucharistic celebration, the grace

 to realise that through our baptism we are called to share in the life of the Holy Trinity, as such we are in relationship with the Father, who generates us to a new life; with the Son, who saved us; and with the Holy Spirit, who communicates divine life to us.

Happy Solemnity of the Holy Trinity! Happy Sunday!

 

DOCTRINE AND FAITH
(Deut. 4,32-34.39-40; Rom 8, 14-17; Matt 28,16-20: Solemnity of the Holy Trinity; 30th May, 2021)

The feast of God-Love fills our hearts with great joy, God invites us to share his love, to receive his generous love and respond to it with grateful love. The revelation of the Holy Trinity is very important, because it makes us understand that God is not a monolith, but a communion of Persons: The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit.
The liturgy today offers us in the Gospel, the only text of the New Testament which presents the three names Father, Son and Holy Spirit together. There are many other texts that speak separately of these three Persons, but only the final part of the gospel of Matthew that presents the formula: in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. This Gospel is prepared by a text of Deuteronomy which exalts God’s generosity in revealing himself and communicating his love. The second reading is a text from Paul that speaks of our relationship with the Father, thanks to the Holy Spirit, through Christ. Risen Jesus sends his disciples to teach all nations and baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. All Christians have been baptised in the name of these three Persons. Therefore, our baptism has inserted us into the intimate life of the Trinity. Thanks to it, we are part of the divine family: we are in relationship with the Father, who generates us to a new life; with the Son, who saved us; and with the Holy Spirit, who communicates divine life to us. Thus, the ending of the Gospel of Matthew expresses the gift of God in a complete way. The Son of God became man to reveal the Father's love to us and to communicate the Holy Spirit to us. The incarnation and the redemption have the purpose of introducing us into the intimate life of God, which is a life of love. It is a love so strong that it causes the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit to be one God: not in the unity of one person, but in the Trinity of one substance, as the Preface of the today’s Mass holds.

Our hearts can be filled with joy and gratitude for this gift of God. Perhaps we do not think enough about the privilege we have in participating in the life of the Trinity, being inserted into its mystery, not only with intellectual knowledge, but with living participation in it, which is very important. Knowing that God is united by three Persons is already a very important knowledge for us, but living in communion with the divine Persons is something even more precious.

In the first reading, Moses addresses the chosen people, making them appreciate divine generosity. The Lord revealed himself to the Jewish people. In Sinai the revelation, according to the book of Deuteronomy, reached all the people, who heard the voice of God speaking from the fire. Moses highlights this extraordinary relationship that has been established between God and the people, and asks:  Was there ever a word so majestic, from one end of heaven to other? Was anything ever heard? Did ever a people hear the voice of the living 
God speaking from the heart of fire, as you heard it, and remain alive? The people could remain as if crushed by this revelation. Moses continues: Has any god ventured  to take to himself one nation from the midst of another by ordeals, signs, wonders, war with mighty hand and outstretched, by fearsome terrors— all these that the Lord your God did for you before your eyes in Egypt? Moses makes the Jews appreciate the divine initiative of the Sinai covenant, which has established a strong bond between a small people and the creator God of heaven and earth. No doubt it is impressive to see this divine benevolence towards a small people. But the Christian revelation still amazes us even more. In fact, this time it is a very intimate alliance. Jeremiah had announced a new covenant in which the law would be written in the hearts, a covenant characterised by an intimate relationship with God (cf. Jer. 31, 31-34); and Ezekiel had spoken of a new heart and a new spirit (cf. Ezek 36,25-28). This new covenant introduces believers to God's intimate life. God has revealed his profound mystery to men. With reason, people can come to recognize the existence of the Creator, but they cannot know the Trinity. This is a mystery that goes beyond the capabilities of human reasoning. It is a mystery that must be communicated by God himself with an initiative of love. It is not just a question of knowing, intellectually, the intimate mystery of God: this knowledge is not authentic if it is not at the same time personal participation in this mystery.
In the second reading, Paul tells us that we have received a spirit of adopted children through which we cry out: Abba, Father! The Spirit puts us in a very beautiful and deep relationship with God. The power of God can arouse in man a sense of fear and an attitude of a slave, because it is truly a power that infinitely exceeds human capacities. But Paul tells us: You did not receive the spirit of slaves to fall back into fear. God had the generosity to introduce us into his intimate life: a life of love, of family, which involves a filial relationship with him and makes us brothers of Christ. Our filial relationship, in fact, is participation in the filial relationship of the only begotten Son. With the difference, however, that we are adopted children, while only Christ is the Son of God in the fullest sense of the word: the only begotten Son of God, as we say in the Creed. This filial relationship that unites us to God and Christ is the work of the Holy Spirit. Paul says: The Spirit himself testifies to our spirit that we are children of God. We can turn to the Father in prayer with filial trust; we have the privilege of approaching him not with fear, but with confidence, thanks to the Holy Spirit, who testifies to us that we are children of God. Paul reminds us that this participation in the intimate life of the Trinity was made possible for us by the mystery of the Incarnation and of the Redemption wrought by Jesus, that is, by his passion and resurrection. Therefore, our participation in the life of the Most Holy Trinity is not authentic if we do not accept to participate in the sufferings of Christ, in order to also be able to participate in his glory. Our relationship with the Trinity is a source of great joy for us, but also of strong demands. Authentic love, in fact, involves all our human capacities and requires the offering of all of ourselves. Divine love is like a fire; therefore, it is demanding. But this shouldn't scare us. Instead, may we go forward with confidence, because God's grace sustains us and makes us progress in the life of love, which is a participation in the very life of the Most Holy Trinity. +John I. Okoye

Solemnity of Pentecost, May 23, 2021

May God on this day of Pentecost bestow on us the grace to be guided into the whole truth by the Holy Spirit and make the message of Jesus penetrate into our souls, so that we may have the impulse to bear witness to Christ.

Happy Sunday!

 

DOCTRINE AND FAITH
(Acts 2, 1-11; Gal 5,16-25; John 15,26-27; 16,12-15: Solemnity of Pentecost, May 23, 2021)

Pentecost represents the triumphal conclusion of the paschal mystery. Everything converges towards the gift of the Holy Spirit. Jesus suffered, overcame death and rose again, to communicate the Holy Spirit to us, who puts us in intimate contact with the life of the Trinity.

The feast of Pentecost has several aspects, which are expressed in today's readings. The Acts of the Apostles recount the episode. The second reading shows us the importance of the Holy Spirit for our Christian life. In the Gospel, Jesus reveals to us the role of the Holy Spirit in Christian witness and deepening of  Christian faith.

In the passage from the Acts of the Apostles the reality of the Holy Spirit is expressed through three symbols. Indeed, the Spirit is invisible. Sometimes it is represented as a dove, but it is not that. The Spirit is an interior reality and, at the same time, immense. As the entrance antiphon says, the Spirit of the Lord has filled the universe. The three symbols with which the Holy Spirit is indicated in this passage from the Acts of the Apostles are: the strong wind, fire and tongues. The Holy Spirit has the ability to give a strong impulse. In fact, in Hebrew the term spirit means breath; the same term is used to indicate breath and spirit. We read in the Acts of the Apostles: Suddenly a roar came from heaven, as of a mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where [the apostles and Mary] were. The Spirit produces a powerful impulse, a strong dynamism. We must welcome this impulse in our lives, in order not to remain immobile, inactivity or in spiritual laziness. The Spirit is also fire. In fact, it is not a material impulse, but a spiritual impulse, an impulse of love. God's love - Paul tells us - has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Rom 5, 5). God is love, and the Holy Spirit is Spirit of love, a fire of love that transforms everything it comes in contact with. The third symbol referring to the Spirit is that of tongues. We read in the Acts of the Apostles: Tongues like fire appeared to them, divided and rested on each one of them. In effect, the Spirit loosens the tongues and  gives the ability to speak. On the day of Pentecost they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit gave them the power to express themselves. The language of the Holy Spirit is not an ordinary language, but a language that expresses supernatural realities, intimate realities of God, realities of spiritual life. It manifested itself at the beginning of the Church with the gift of tongues. The disciples acquire the ability to express themselves in such a way that everyone understands what they say: The crowd gathered and was astonished because each one heard them speak their own language. For the Jewish feast of Pentecost an immense crowd gathered in Jerusalem; Jews came from all parts of the world: Parthians, Medes, Elamites, inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and parts of Libya near Cyrene, foreigners from Rome, Jews and proselytes [that is, pagans who had been conquered by the Jewish faith]. Everyone hears the great works of God proclaimed in their tongues. The speeches of the apostles, in fact, are not ordinary speeches, but a praise of the great works of God. Thus, we can see that the Holy Spirit, from the beginning, goes in all directions, to re-establish unity and overcome human dispersion. In chapter 11 of Genesis, the episode of the tower of Babel is recounted: men who speak the same language, to make a name for themselves, want to build a very high tower, but they cannot, because God confuses their languages. They no longer understand each other, and are therefore, scattered throughout the world. At Pentecost, however, the Spirit reaches everyone, each in his own language, and brings about the unity of all. Thanks to the Holy Spirit, we are united with Christians around the world. This is the marvellous work of the Spirit, a work that is impossible to accomplish with our simple human strengths.

In the Gospel, Jesus announces the coming of the Holy Spirit, highlighting two aspects. First, declares that the Spirit will testify to him. And you too - Jesus says to the apostles - will bear witness to me, because you have been with me from the beginning. The Holy Spirit gives disciples the ability to bear witness to Jesus, giving them extraordinary strength. This, according to the account in Acts, takes place immediately, on the very day of Pentecost: Peter, who during the Passion had not had the courage to bear witness to Jesus, in fact, he denied him three times, now speaks with courage and audacity and speaks to all Jews to witness the passion and resurrection of Jesus and the gift of the Spirit. Thanks to the Holy Spirit, the Christian faith has spread throughout the world, and Christians have been able to face martyrdom to bear witness to Jesus. On the other hand, Jesus declares that the Spirit of truth will guide the disciples into a whole truth. During his public life Jesus spoke, acted, did wonderful works, but the apostles were unable to understand them. Everything remained on the surface for them, it did not penetrate their depths. But, with the coming of the Spirit, they will be guided into the whole truth. That is, the Holy Spirit will make the whole message, all the works of Jesus and his paschal mystery, penetrate into their souls. The Spirit - Jesus explains - will not speak on his own, but will say everything he has heard [...], he will take from mine and announce it to you. We are not dealing here with a new revelation, which has no relationship with the Incarnation of the Son of God. The Holy Spirit will take up Jesus’ words and make them understandable, he will make them penetrate into the soul of men. Jesus says: All that the Father possesses is mine; for this I have told you that he will take from what is mine and he will announce it to you. The Holy Spirit exercises an interior action essential for Christian faith, hope and charity. It is an intimate force, which brings light, warmth and makes everything alive, always keeping it in relationship with the mystery of Christ.

In the second reading, Paul tells us that our Christian life must be guided by the Holy Spirit. He must guide not only our faith (cf. today's Gospel passage), but also our behavior and our journey. To speak of behaviour, the Apostle often uses the terms journey, walk; and in this passage he says precisely: Walk according to the Spirit [that is, let yourselves be guided by the Spirit] and then you will not be led to satisfy the desires of the flesh. Paul explains to us that our personal life is a life of conflict. In us there is necessarily a struggle, because there are two principles that contrast: the flesh and the Spirit. The flesh indicates the selfish man, all tendencies that go in the direction of selfishness and evil, excesses of all kinds, from violence to impurity and so on. Paul declares: The flesh has desires contrary to the Spirit and the Spirit has desires contrary to the flesh; these two things oppose each other, so that you do not do everything you would like. There is a struggle in us. We cannot blindly follow all of our impulses. In fact, there are impulses of the flesh and impulses of the Spirit. We cannot at the same time live a life of selfish enjoyment and have the joy of generosity. We cannot at the same time indulge our natural tendency to dominate others and have the joy of selfless service. We cannot at the same time seek the satisfactions that come from money and the joy that comes from a generous life. We have to choose between these two things. We can choose the right way with the help of the Spirit. The flesh can be overcome, because if we walk according to the Spirit, we will not be inclined to satisfy the desires of the flesh. The works of the flesh are known; Paul lists them: first of all, fornication and uncleanness (that is, what we call the sins of the flesh), then idolatry, enmities, discord, jealousy, dissensions, divisions. These are sins of selfishness and violence. These things prevent us from living in a truly human and Christian way. If we go in this direction, our lives are lost; instead of being happy, we only get shame. Therefore, the Apostle declares: Regarding these things I warn you, as I have already said, that whoever does them will not inherit the kingdom of God. Instead, if we follow the Spirit, we go to heaven, and already on earth we can live in a way worthy of God, so that we feel profound satisfaction. Paul says: The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace and all the other virtues. Here we can note that the Apostle speaks of works of the flesh - in the plural - and of fruit of the Spirit - in the singular. This singular includes multiple aspects, but united with each other. The works of the flesh, on the other hand, go in contrasting directions and cause a dispersion of the human being that becomes unbearable for him. The Spirit creates harmony, peace and joy. Its main fruit is love, which procures joy and peace. Love is also manifested with patience, benevolence, goodness, faithfulness and mildness. Our ideal is to live by the Spirit. When we have to make a decision, we must let ourselves be guided by the Holy Spirit. For this we must pray. In fact, the Spirit is welcomed by us through prayer. The light he gives us is obtained through prayer, and the love he pours into our hearts is also received through prayer. Therefore, if we live by the Spirit [in fact, starting from our baptism we have the Spirit within us, we are his temple], we must walk according to the Spirit. We must let ourselves be guided by the Spirit, and then we will be sure to have a beautiful life, a life that gives us full joy and that is also very useful for all the people we come into contact with. +John I. Okoye

 

7th Sunday after Easter; May 16, 2021)

 

May God bestow on us in today's Eucharistic celebration, the grace to realise that we are to continue God's work in this world, for through our baptism we are consecrated in truth and set apart for a special task of continuing in the mission of Christ which is that of saving the world.

Happy Sunday!



 

DOCTRINE AND FAITH
(Acts 1,15-17.20-26; 1 John 4, 11-16; John 17, 11-19: 7th Sunday after Easter; May 16, 2021)


After Eastertide Sundays when we heard the gradual development of the infant Church, now a passage from the beginning of Acts, immediately after the Ascension, is offered. Perhaps this is either because it immediately follows Solemnity of Ascension immediately, or because it provides a model for the apostolic succession through which the Church is to continue down the ages. The two qualities required for an apostle are that he should be a witness to the resurrection and a man chosen by the Spirit. Of these two, the latter is obvious enough: the apostle, be he bishop, priest or layperson, is no mere administrator, organiser or authority, but is one in whom the Spirit of God dwells. As witnesses to the resurrection, the first apostles were eye-witnesses that Christ was really alive and transformed into fuller life. The apostle today is not an eye-witness of the bodily resurrection, but his testimony is the same in its essentials, for he is witnessing by his life, his activities and his joy in Christ's strength, that Christ is still today a living and transforming power, and not a dead piece of history. Of this every Christian is an apostle and witness. The real mark of a Christian is not that he knows about Jesus but that he knows Jesus. The basic mistake in Christianity is to regard Jesus as someone who lived and died and whose life we study and whose story we read. Jesus is not a figure in a book, he is a living presence; and the Christian is a man whose whole life is a witness to the fact that he knows and has met the Risen Lord, companied with Jesus and lives day by day with him.

 

The second reading, 1 John 4,11-16, a short passage from the First letter of John enjoins us to love our neighbours as a grateful response to God’s love for us shown through Jesus Christ who is the Saviour of the world. When he came into the world, men were not conscious of their own weakness and helplessness. They were desperately conscious of their weakness in necessary things. They wanted a hand let down to lift them up. It would be quite inadequate to think of salvation as mere deliverance from the punishment of hell. Men need to be saved from themselves; they need to be saved from the vices which have become their fetters; they need to be saved from their temptations; they need to be saved from their fears and anxieties; they need to be saved from their follies, mistakes and selfishness. In every case Jesus offers men salvation; he brings that which enables them to face time and to meet eternity. This passage is also saying that Jesus is the Son of God, and that Jesus Christ is in a relationship with God in which no other person ever stood or ever will stand. He alone can show men what God is like; he alone can bring God's grace, love, forgiveness and strength to men. This passage also by mere hinting that we have a share of the Spirit indicates our dwelling in God. It is the work of the Spirit that, in the beginning, makes us seek God at all; it is the work of the Spirit that makes us aware of God's presence; and it is the work of the Spirit that gives us the certainty that we are truly at peace with God. It is the Spirit in our hearts which makes us dare to address God as Father (Romans 8, 15,16). The Spirit is the inner witness who gives us the immediate, spontaneous and unanalysable awareness of a divine presence in our lives.


The message of today’s gospel reading is that Christians are to continue the work of Christ in the world; he sends them just as the Father sent him, and they are in the world but not part of it, just as he was in the world but not part of it. Christians must be consecrated, set apart for God, just as Jesus himself was set apart for God. Jesus prayed in today’s gospel reading that his disciples might be consecrated by the truth. The word for to consecrate is hagiazein which comes from the adjective hagios often translated holy but whose basic meaning is different or separate. By asking that his disciples be consecrated, Jesus means that they should be set apart for a special task. When God called Jeremiah he said to him: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nation (Jeremiah 1,5). Even before his birth God had set Jeremiah apart for a special task. In praying that the disciples be consecrated,  Jesus is also requesting that they be equipped with the qualities of mind and heart and character which are necessary for them to continue the mission of the Son of God, which is his mission of saving the world. Jesus went further in his prayer to request his beloved Father: And for their sakes I consecrate myself that they also might be consecrated in truth. Here consecrate is a sacrificial term and refers to Jesus’ self-offering. He is offering his sinless life in perfect obedience to the will of God on behalf of the disciples to enable them serve God as those who have been dedicated and made fit to continue the revelation of the Father in the Son. Indeed, by the consecration we received at our baptism and by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and in addition to the extra sacrificial consecration of Jesus on the cross on our behalf, every Christian is equipped to be a very veritable witness to the resurrection of Christ. Therefore, he is in the best position to participate in the salvific work of God in the circumstances of his life.

+John I. Okoye 

6th Sunday of Easter

 

May God grant us in today's Eucharistic celebration,the graces to realise that  Jesus loves us, it is then our duty to love one another as he loves us, but this can only be effective if we attune our hearts to that of Christ by being in constant union with Christ through the holy Eucharist.

Happy Sunday!

 

DOCTRINE AND FAITH
(Acts 10, 25-27.34-35.44-48; 1 John 4,7-l0; John 15, 9-17: 6th Sunday of Easter, 9th May, 2021)

This Sunday's liturgy presents us with beautiful texts that speak to us of love and God who is love. We are truly at the pinnacle of the revelation of the New Testament.

In the Last Supper Jesus says to the disciples: As the Father loved me, so I too have loved you. Remain in my love. These are words that enlighten us and instill great joy in our hearts. Love comes from the Father, passes through the heart of Jesus and reaches us. We cannot claim to be the source of love. This would be an illusion full of pride on our part which goes against the very sense of love. The true source of love is God.

In the second reading John affirms that God is love. We often get the wrong idea of God, considering him as a more or less ruthless power, an uncompromising judge, and a tyrant. The Bible, on the other hand, reveals to us that God is love. He is absolute generosity and infinite benevolence. Love comes from the heavenly Father and passes through Jesus’ heart  as he tells us: As the Father loved me, so I also loved you. Jesus did not even claim to be the source of love. He is aware that he receives love from the Father and that he is only the mediator of this love, the one who must transmit it to us. Jesus transmits this love to us in a very active way. In fact, in this same passage of the Gospel he tells us: No one has a greater love than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends. This is what he has done. In the Last Supper he thanked the Father, who placed an infinite love in his heart, to which he adhered with all his human and divine being. Thus, he intended to offer his life for the people he loved: not only for his disciples, but also for all men. We also, like Jesus and in him, must welcome the love that comes from the Father and remain in it, according to the command of Jesus: Abide in my love. We must remain in the love that Jesus transmits to us. To remain in this love, and not to go out of it on account of selfishness, sin and through every behaviour unworthy of the Christian and human vocation, is a wonderful, very positive program of life; it means to live, continuously, in love. Jesus makes us understand that our love must not be just one affective love, a superficial feeling, but a love effect, a love that manifests itself in observing his commandments. He says: If you keep my commandments, remain in my love. Love must manifest itself in concrete life, and actions; otherwise it is only an illusory love. Jesus asks us to observe his commandments, which can be summed up in this way: Love one another as I have loved you. We are loved by Jesus, and we have the duty to love as he loves us. Obviously, we cannot do this if we do not have his own heart within us. To love as Jesus loves us, we must welcome his heart within us. The Eucharist has the purpose of putting the heart of Jesus in us, so that it is truly effective in our lives and our whole live are guided by his generous feelings. This is the Christian ideal. Jesus shows us that his love is full of delicacy and generosity: You are my friends [... ]. I  no longer call you servants [... ], but I have called you friends. For us it is an extraordinary thing to have Jesus as a friend: he, the Son of God; he, full of holiness; he, who is perfection himself. We are unworthy of it, but he wants to communicate his friendship to us. Jesus then tells us that his friendship is manifested with confidence, with the communication of God's thoughts and feelings, and with divine revelation: All that I have heard from the Father I have made known to you. The Christian life is a life of confidence in Jesus, and this too is a wonderful thing. Obviously, on our part, we must be ready to welcome the revelations of love that he wants to make to us. If we do not pray, and meditate, we cannot truly welcome what Jesus wants to tell us in the depths of our hearts. Living in this intimacy with Jesus, knowing what he wants us to do in every circumstance, living in effective love, being guided by Jesus, all these are truly extraordinary things; but it is also what corresponds to the deepest desires of our heart and infuses in us the most perfect joy, according to Jesus’ words: This I have told you so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. These words also manifest Jesus' love for us. He loves us; therefore, he wants to communicate his joy to us, which is the joy of the Son of God full of love. Jesus wants us to live in constant, faithful and generous love, thus corresponding to our fundamental vocation. In fact, God, who is love, created us to communicate his love to us, to make us live in his love and to give us true joy, and perfect happiness, without any shadow of sin and selfishness.

To make this possible, God did not hesitate to give his own Son. John affirms in the second reading: In this is love: it was not we who loved God, but he who loved us and sent his Son as an instrument of forgiveness [this is the most exact translation of the Greek term ilasmos] for our sins. Here John insists that the initiative of love comes from God; God is the source of love. It was not us who loved God, but he who loved us and removed the great obstacle to the love that is in us, sin. God sent his Son as an instrument of forgiveness for our sins, thus making it possible for us to have a union of love with him. In baptism, God purifies us with the blood of his Son. In the sacrament of reconciliation Jesus intervenes as our advocate, to defend us and purify us from the sins committed after baptism; he enables us to be faithful to the love that comes from God.

The first reading shows us that this love of God is universal. In the Old Testament one could get the impression that God's love was limited to the chosen people. In reality, God had wanted the privilege of the Jewish people not to remain exclusive, but to be extended to all nations. Ever since Abraham's call he had said: In you all the families of the earth will be blessed (Gen 12,3). Therefore, his project is a universal project, which is realised through  Jesus’ paschal mystery, through his mystery of death and resurrection. And as we are told in the first reading, Peter goes to the house of Cornelius, a pagan who was docile to God and inspired to have the Apostle come to his house to welcome the word of salvation. Inspired by God too, Peter does not hesitate to go to the house of a pagan to talk about Jesus, He understood that God does not prefer people, but those who fear him and practice justice, to whatever people they belong, is  acceptable to him. God’s love is directed to all men, there is no longer any limitation. The election now extends to all men who believe. It is enough to adhere to Christ in faith, welcome the love of God that is communicated to us through Christ,  be saved from sins and thus  live in the perfect joy of communion of love with God. We must thank the Lord who makes us participants in this project of his love, and should be aware that we must continually progress in love. To correspond to our Christian vocation, we must develop a truly universal love within us. The Church is Catholic, that is, she is open and ready to welcome all nations into her bosom, to put them in communion with God and in communion with one another. The celebration of the Eucharist introduces us to this plan of God. Therefore, we can participate in it with trust and gratitude, in union with all the people called to live with us in the love of God. +John I. Okoye

5th Sunday of Easter, 2nd May, 2021

May God in today's Eucharistic celebration, make us realise that we cannot bear good fruits, if we separate ourselves from Christ who is the true vine, and may he grant us the grace to make appropriate effort to live true Christian life so that together with Christ we can bear good fruits.

Happy Sunday!

 DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Acts 9, 26-31; 1 John 3, 18-24; John 15,1-8: 5th Sunday of Easter, 2nd May, 2021)

Today the liturgy makes us listen to the Gospel passage of the true vine. Jesus presents himself as the true vine, and invites us to remain united with him to bear much fruit. In the first reading we see that Paul, just converted, has borne fruit, because he preached with courage and spoke openly in the name of Jesus. The second reading is also linked to the Gospel, because it says that we must love not in words or only in speech, but with deeds. This love is really bearing fruit.

 In the Gospel, Jesus presents himself as the true vine. With a severe admonition, he immediately, raises the problem of the fruits to bear: Every branch that does not bear fruit in me [the Father] cuts away. We must accept this warning, because it stimulates us to live the Christian life fully  and  have  profound joy in ourselves. We are branches of the Lord's vine and, to remain in him, we must bear fruit. Otherwise the Father is forced to send us away. In fact, he cannot tolerate a member of Christ not bearing fruit. Therefore, we must live a true Christian life; we cannot only be labeled Christians, but must also really live an interior and also exterior life, in conformity with Christ’s teaching. Then Jesus says: Every branch that bears fruit [the Father] prunes so that it bears more fruit. Here we refer to the trials in the Christian life, which are necessary realities, and have positive meaning: they are the condition for greater fruitfulness. All saints have gone through multiple trials. They received them not only with resignation, but with gratitude. In fact, they were united in this way with the paschal mystery of Jesus, and, therefore, could bear more fruits for the glory of God and the good of many people. Jesus reveals to us what the condition for bearing fruit is: Abide in me and I in you. It is clear that a branch cannot bear fruit alone, but it needs the vine. If it doesn't stay in the vine, it dries up and is thrown away. Likewise, the essential condition for bearing fruit in the Christian life is that we remain in Christ and Christ remain in us. The Eucharist we receive unites Christ with us and us with Christ, thus giving us the capacity to bear fruit. Without it, the Christian life can hardly be fruitful, because this strong union with Christ was lacking. The branch must receive the sap from the vine, and thus it can bear fruit; otherwise it remains sterile. Jesus says: I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him, bears much fruit. For us it is a reason of great joy to know that, thanks to our union with Jesus, our life is truly fruitful. How? What is the fruit we must bear? Jesus does not specify it here, but we can understand it from other passages of the Gospel of John and the New Testament: the main fruit that the branches united to the vine must bear is love. We do not deal with words or with the tongue only, but with facts and in truth, John tells us in his First Letter. This is truly the fruit that the life of Jesus produces in us. Jesus’ life  is a life of love and, when it comes into us, it pushes us to love the Father with all our heart, with all our strength, and to love our neighbour as he loved us, that is, not in words or with the tongue, but with facts and in truth. In the same way Paul tells us that what counts is the faith that works through love (cf. Gal 5, 6). Faith unites us to Jesus, makes Jesus live in us and us in him, and produces a life of love. If there is no life of love, it means that our faith is not authentic, but it is a dead faith, as James explains (cf. James 2,17). Jesus then says in the Gospel: If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for what you want and it will be given to you. This is also one way we produce fruit. The fruitfulness of our life depends on our prayer, and we can be confident that if we pray, we will be heard. Our fruit, in fact, is the work of Jesus through us. Therefore, we must ask him for his grace, and then welcome it, to carry out his work with him. Jesus was united with the Father, he did the Father's work with the Father. In the Gospel of John he affirms: The Father who is in me does his works. Believe me: I am in the Father and the Father is in me. If nothing else, believe it for the works themselves (cf. John 14, l0-15). The Father shows the Son everything he does so that the Son can do all his work with him (cf. John 5, 19-20). Our doing his work with Jesus is the effective realisation of love. Usually our human love is fruitful; divine love is even more so. It is fruitful with good works, truly useful works, which illuminate and make all life beautiful. Similarly, John writes in his First Letter: Whatever we ask, we receive from him because we keep his commandments and do what is pleasing to him. If we are faithful in observing God's will, which is the will of love, we can ask God for many things. Obviously, these are things that go in the sense of love, and not selfishness. Indeed, it would be a contradiction to ask the Lord to help our selfishness oppress our spiritual life. Instead, if we do what is pleasing to God, we can ask him for many things and have the joy of receiving them from him. John states: This is his commandment: that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and that we love one another, according to the precept he has given us. Here John shows us a double commandment: faith and love. The commandment is twofold, because love is not possible without union with Jesus in faith and, on the other hand, faith is not authentic without love lived in union with Jesus.

Faith and love are, intimately, linked together. With faith we remain in Jesus and Jesus remains in us. Paul affirms: This life that I live in the flesh [earthly existence], I live in the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me (Gal 2,20). Our faith is a faith in a person who is full of love for us; it puts us in contact with him and he bestows that strength to love that allows us to transform our lives first, and then those of others around us. Believing and loving, remaining in Jesus through faith and bearing fruit through love, these are the characteristics of the Christian life. The Christian life is a splendid life, which spreads happiness close to itself, a luminous, generous life. When we approach Communion, we make a great act of faith; and from Communion we receive all the strength to love. Let us therefore, live this double commandment of faith and love with an attitude of gratitude, in order to be able to have full joy within us. +John I. Okoye 

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